Thursday, 3 March 2011

Navigation in al Weather conditions is something not only trained survivors do, but citizens on a daily basis do as part of the urban migration taking place day after day. The scene goes like this: poring rain, in a hurry, forgot to look up the route down from the tube station to Polly Street and I guess not toped up the mobile for the free web allowance... Anyway there is this little piece of paper with a printed Google Map of the area on it. Either the design of the map is too much comic or you are holding it the wrong way up, but it takes too long to decipher. By the time you have located the destination, the paper is wet, by the time you decide which route the paper is soaked and ... you will never be able to take it out of your pocket in one piece again. So no checking on the way.

Interesting how this 'technique' of crumpling the map adds a third dimension to the information and allows for a different perspective, THe flat plane all of a sudden becomes more tangible and a sense of abstraction is present. Through the aspect of irritation of a road all of a sudden going physically uphill the navigation process is more alert and the product placed in a firmer understanding of reduced reality. A benefit of course empowering the user to be freed from the truth of the map via the introduction of possibilities and uncertainty.

The product was presented only last year and go extensively reviewed. The darling of all reviewers it seems. There were articles or mentions from Wire to NYT, or from the TimeOut Lisboa to the Vogue Living.

However, the product also promisses some hidden spots: "Each map proposes 10 “SoulSights”, places that are chosen to excite you. These are places filled with intense emotions that are brought to life by the people passing through or stopping off in them. Visit these places and you will feel like an artist, a poet, a photographer, a director, a lover and a dreamer." This sounds intriguing and might be something different to explore.

So far only the versions are the limit, currently versions are available for: Rome, London, New York, Paris, Berlin. So there are some treasure places missing, but hopefully they are working on extending the coverage. At least there is a hint on the bottom of the website where a Hamburg Map features.

Image taken from Palomarweb / The Hamburg version of the Crumpler City Map.

About this blog

Cycle studies are the science of everyday life, as normal as it gets. Its focus is the daily routine, with its habits and rhythms as they occure in most citizens' lifes. It is the power of the normal that brings stability and the routine that ensures security. But is is the cycles's dynamic of flow and continuation that prevents life from freezing.

Cycles therefore stand for stability but are at the same time the engine of change.

With this blog the research on cycles and rhythms will be embedded in the most recent developments in technology, covering a range of areas with a focus on space-time related technologies.

The research is undertaken at CASA Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL.